Electric cars set to revive Cornish mining

Cornwall’s mining history was the subject of the BBC programme Poldark, starring Aidan TurnerPA

Modern-day Poldarks are back in business. Today’s Cornish mine prospectors are looking not for tin though, but lithium. And, given that they are using satellites, unlike Aidan Turner they’re probably keeping their shirts on.

It has been 20 years since a miner last emerged blinking from the depths of the Cornish earth after a shift, and a century since mining was an important industry in the county. The boom in batteries means it could return, thanks to evidence from those tin mining days which showed high levels of lithium in underground brine.

Data scientists are scouring high-resolution images of the entire peninsula to see if they can spot the tell-tale signs that lithium lies beneath.